Trek Is Finally Making A Dedicated Gravel Bike

03.03.18 – by Element.ly Staff

Photo: Trek Bikes

“It’s very much like a mountain biker’s road bike.” – David Studner, Trek product manager

After getting into gravel last fall with a half-baked Domane Gravel that’s more of a re-spec’d road bike with wider tubeless tires, Trek is finally going all in (a redemption perhaps?) with a new dedicated gravel line dubbed the Checkpoint. It’s a doozy one that incorporates some of the Wisconsin-based giant’s technical know how. It’s got fun and practical written all over it for the vast majority of us that don’t race, don’t want to race, and would like to have just one bike for everything because the whole N+1 rule is seriously getting out of control.

The new disc-only frame in either carbon or aluminum features a geometry with lower bottom bracket and higher stack than the cyclocross-specific Boone, 12×142 thru-axle rear, an adjustable Stranglehold dropout to allow 15mm of adjustment to further dial in the ride. The carbon framed model also comes with a non-adjustable IsoSpeed decoupler to absorb the bumps and rough edges.

There are also three women-specific models, hydraulic disc brakes for the entire line up, plenty of mounting points to haul gear, AND clearance for 45c tires. See that black piece of plastic on the downtube in the photo above? It’s integrated armor to protect your precious frame. It’s a SUV that doesn’t suck.

If that’s not enough to convince you, then the competitive price starting at $1,789 for the entry level aluminum Checkpoint ALR 4 and the flagship carbon Checkpoint SL6 at $3,799 might just win you over.

The Checkpoint is also available as a frame only with the aluminum Checkpoint ALR at $959 and carbon Checkpoint SL at $1,999.